Britain's finance watchdog wants to end the 'second crisis' in financial services

The new head of Britain's financial watchdog says "the future
needs to be radically different from the past" when it comes to
the conduct of financial services companies.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on Wednesday launched its
new "Mission," a document setting out how new CEO Andrew Bailey
sees the regulator's role in promoting market competition,
protecting the consumer, and cracking down on misbehaving firms.
The FCA regulates the conduct of around 56,00o finance companies
in the UK.

Bailey, who joined 4 months ago, writes in the documents
introduction that Britain had "two financial crisis in the last
decade" — the first is the 2008 banking collapse and "the second
crisis has involved the conduct of business by financial firms."

The FCA's new "Mission"

The FCA's new "Mission" is designed to "provide a guiding set of
principles around the strategic choices the FCA makes," according
to the press release announcing it, but it is also no doubt an
attempt to repair the regulator's reputation.

The "Mission" covers how the FCA should look to protect
consumers, special measures for vulnerable consumers, when the
FCA should intervene, how the FCA should properly regulate
markets and encourage competition, and consumer redress.

While Bailey's introduction suggests a more consumer-focused
approach to banking regulation, the document itself is fairly
even-handed in balancing consumer and company interests.

The FCA also stops short of endorsing a legal introduction of a
financial "Duty of Care" for companies over their customers,
something consumer groups have called for. The FCA says that "on
balance" it does not believe it is necessary as the
FCA's code already requires companies to look after their
customers.

The FCA will now begin a consultation process, taking feedback on
its "Mission" from finance firms, consumer groups, politicians,
and other interested parties before it becomes a final policy
document.

Bailey says in the release announcing the new document: "The
Mission will only be a success if our stakeholders engage with us
through this consultation process. We want this to be a very open
process. Out of it, we hope that we can set out a clear path
ahead for financial conduct regulation in the UK."